Peiris warns of Sri Lanka losing foreign aid

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2003, 15:03 GMT]The media spokesman and Constitutional Affairs Minister of Sri Lanka's United National Front (UNF) government, Mr. G.L.Peiris, Thursday warned that the country is at risk of losing millions of dollars in aid because of the feud between the executive presidency and parliamentary legislature, which followed the take-over of three key ministries by the President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, last month.

Mr.Peiris, addressing the weekly press briefing, said the President and Prime Minister were no closer to an agreement on who should control the defense ministry.

"Despite the political stalemate and stalled peace process, the island must make some arrangements for the country to benefit from the very large resources--about 4.5 billion U.S. dollars--that had been pledged at the Tokyo aid conference," said Mr.Peiris.